1854. James B. Cooper, an American naval officer, died, aged 94. He was a member of Lee's legion in the war of the Revolution, and served in the navy during the war of 1812.
A day of dire calamity, says Hesiod, in which certain Greek ladies, called "the Furies," make their round, "about, about, about."
FEBRUARY 6.
129 B. C. Three ambassadors from John Hyrcanus, the Jewish pontiff, were received at Rome, when the senate decreed a renewal of the league of amity and assistance with that "good and friendly people," and dismissed the delegates with presents.
1554. John Wyatt and a number of others executed for an insurrection and riot, on account of Queen Mary's marriage with Philip II of Spain.
1593. James Amyott, grand almoner of France, died; a writer on various subjects, but chiefly known as the translator of Plutarch's Lives and Morals.
1623. Juan Mariana, a Spanish historian, died. He wrote several works,
theological and historical; the most considerable of which is his History of Spain.
1649. The Rump parliament voted the house of peers to be useless and dangerous, and accordingly that branch of the legislature and the office of king, were abolished by two brief resolutions.
1685. Charles II, king of England, died. At the time of the death of his father he was a refugee at the Hague, on which he immediately assumed the royal title. In 1660 he entered London amidst the universal acclamations of the people. He was a confirmed sensualist and voluptuary, says Lardner, and owing to the example of him and his court, his reign was the era of the most dissolute manners that ever prevailed in England. His career was terminated by a fit of apoplexy, at the age of 55. It was during this reign that the great plague and the great fire of London occurred. He was the twenty-sixth king of England.